The Letter from Ireland Podcast

In this special Irish family history episode we take two letters from our Green Room members. We chat about the approach they should take to uncover more about their respective Irish ancestral homelands.The first letter comes from one of our members in Australia and shares the story of her Irish Irish ancestors. She wonders how to go about discovering the actual origin for these an

In this special episode we choose one of our Green Room members (see more about the Green Room here) and accompany them on a genealogical trip back to County Cork.Cathy Abraham lives in Boston, USA and her great-grandparents arrived there in the 1870s from County Cork. They were Timothy O'Callaghan and Ellen Richardson. The story went that Timothy was a poor farm-hand on Ellen's pa

In this episode we look at a very difficult time in Ireland - one that triggered a time of death across the population of the island as well as emigration for many generations afterwards. I'm talking, of course, about "An Gorta Mór" - also known as "The Great Hunger" or "The Great Famine" of the mid 1800s.The first letter looks at a particular landless class in Ireland - who forme

In this episode we look at two of the major family surnames of Ireland - O'Neill and O'Connor.The first story asks if you have Niall of the Nine Hostages DNA?. This Niall was the patriarch of the O'Neills of Meath and Ulster and there are a surprising number of people on the planet today who have a direct link back to this one individual.We then move on to the O'Connors - who provi

In this musical episode we look at a very personal choice of the eight most unique Irish MALE singing voices.I wonder will you agree? Maybe it will introduce you to a new talent that you have not heard before - or maybe you feel I have left out one or two of your own favourites! Either way, I hope you enjoy this selection of beautiful Irish songs and voices.Music featured in this e

In this episode we tell the story of not one, but two, Irish families that came out of the area surrounding the town of Bantry in West Cork, Ireland.The first story shares the story of Francis O'Neill who emigrated to the USA and Chicago - eventually becoming a chief of police. More importantly, he became an avid collector and preserver of traditional Irish music. The healthy state

In this musical episode we look at a very personal choice of the eight most beautiful Irish femail singing voices.I wonder will you agree? Maybe it will introduce you to a new talent that you have not heard before - or maybe you feel I have left out one or two of your own favourites! Either way, I hope you enjoy this selection of beautiful Irish songs and voices.Music featured in t

In this episode we travel to that fascinating county at the north-east of the island of Ireland - County Antrim. We explore it's rich heritage and history as well as the most numerous surnames in the county.We then go to the south-east of the county to the city of Belfast and again, explore it's rich history and heritage. A "must-listen" if your Irish ancestor came from this beauti

In this episode we celebrate 10 years of the Letter from Ireland! In the summer of 2013, we started to write, and send out, a weekly letter from Ireland. Two years later we started the Letter from Ireland podcast. Today, the letter goes out every Sunday to 60,000 people of Irish descent all around the world and continues to thrive - all due to the support and feedback we get from o

In this episode we look at two different Irish races - one from the 18th century and one from the early 20th century. Our first story charts the origins of that iconic horserace - the Steeplechase - between two towns in County Cork. We then go on to look at an early motorcar road race that took place in Ireland in 1903 and gave rise to the iconic colour of British Race motoring - "